Spindle reel lock



Dec. 27, 1966 A. E. JACOB SPINDLE REEL LOCK Filed April 16. 1965 INVENTOR ANDREW E. JACOB BY MMQL mm &; $0.4m

ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,29d,337 SPINDLE REEL LUCK Andrew E. Jacob, Metuchen, N..l., asslgnor to General Cable Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Apr. 16, 1965, Ser. No. 448,642 4 Claims. (Cl. 24268.3)

This invention relates to a spindle reel or bobbin lock for preventing axial displacement of a reel on a spindle. It is int nded particularly for use on wire payofi apparatus where there are a plurality of spindles for holding large and heavy reels of wire that are fed to a cablestranding machine; but the invention is not limited to such use.

The speed at which operations can be performed on wires when using stranding apparatus depends to a large extent on the ease of locking and unlocking the reels into their spindle positions. The loading time will be seen to be substantial when it is realized that hundreds of reels may be placed into position at a common setting for a process operation such as in telephone unit construction. It follows that cutting down this loading time results in a greater efliciency of operation.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved lock on a reel spindle for preventing displacement of the reel from the end of the spindle over which the reel is loaded on the spindle. Displacement of the reel in the opposite direction is prevented by a flange, shoulder or other abutment surface which is permanently in place.

It is a particular object of the invention to provide a spindle lock which serves to lock and unlock reels in their process position in a nearly instantaneous manner;

Still another object is to provide a construction with locking fingers of heavy and rugged construction, for retaining large reels, and to lock and unlock the fingers by a manually actuated device which connects with all of the fingers on the spindle for simultaneous operation and with automatic retaining means for holding the fingers in either locked or unlocked position to which they have been moved by the manually actuated device. In the preferred construction, springs which move beyond cener are used as the automatic retaining means.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views:

FEGURE 1 is a perspective view showing one of the spindles on a wire payoff apparatus with the spindle reel lock of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a greatly enlarged sectional view taken through a diameter of the spindle shown in FIGURE 1 and on the section plane indicated by the line 2-2; and

FIGURE 3 is a view on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2.

The drawing shows a spindle 16 supported by an axle 12 extending from a frame 14 of a wire payoff apparatus. There are a plurality of such spindles extending from the frame 14 in accordance with conventional practice and as explained above. FIGURE 2 shows diagrammatically a reel 16 which is indicated in broken lines to show the position which the reel occupies, on the spindle 10. A flange 18 at the rearward end of the spindle 1t) serves as an abutment for limiting axial movement of the reel 16 toward the frame 14.

There is a stud 20 extending from the flange 18 in a direction parallel to the axis of the axle 12. This stud 2t} extends into a socket in the reel 16 so as to cause the reel to rotate as a unit with the spindle 10. The axle 12 is driven by power means, in accordance with conventional construction, and the spindle 19 is connected to the axle 12 by a hub 21 of the flange 18 having a key 22 and set screw 24.

Patented Dec. 27, 1956 Toward the forward end of the spindle 10 there is an inwardly projecting flange 26 which fits over the axle 12. Thus the hub 21 and flange 26 provide bearings for supporting the spindle 10 from the axle 12.

The portion of the spindle It) on which the reel 16 rests is a cylindrical shell 28; and this shell 28 extends beyond the flange 26 and beyond the end of the axle 12.

An end cap 30 fits against the front end of the cylindrical shell 28 and is secured to the spindle by holding screws 32. There is a compartment 34 enclosed by the flange 26, the extending end of the cylindrical shell 23, and the end cap 30. The holding screws 32 extend through this compartment 3d and thread into the flange 26.

The end cap so has a recessed face 38 formed by a peripheral rim 4% around the outside of the end cap 30. A spindle knob 42 is located in the recess formed by the face 38 and rim 4% and this spindle knob 42 has a shank pontion 44 which extends through a bearing 46 in the center of the end cap 34 and preferably in axial alignment with the axle 12.

The spindle knob 42 is of larger diameter than the shank portion 44 so as to provide a shoulder for preventing axial movement of the shank portion 44 toward the right in FIGURE 2; and there is a sun gear 5% located on the inner end of the shank portion 44 and secured to a reduced-diameter end of the shank portion 44 by a I pin 52.

A stud shaft 54 is attached to the end cap 30. This stud shaft 54 has a reduced diameter portion 56 which extends through the end cap 30 and the outer end of the portion 56 is riveted to hold the shoulder at the largerdiameter part of the shaft 54 securely against the inner face of the end cap 36 A gear as is placed on a bushing 62. This bushing fits over the stud shaft 54 with a running fit so that the gear 6% which rotates as a unit with the bushing 62, is freely rotatable on the shaft 54. A looking finger 66 is placed on the bushing 62 beyond the gear 60; and this finger 66 is movable from a locked position, in which it extends through a slot 68 in the end cap 30, to a retracted, unlocked position shown in broken lines in FIGURE 3.

When the finger 66 is in its extended, locking position, as shown in full lines in FIGURE 3, and as also shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, it comes against the left end (FIG- URE 3) of the slot 68, and this end of the slot acts as an abutment for limiting the angular stroke of the finger 66.

When the finger 66 is swung clockwise into its retracted position, it comes in contact with one of the holding screws 32 which serves as an abutment for limiting angular movement of the finger 66 at the other end of its stroke.

There is a similar stud shaft 54 attache-d to the end cap 30 at a location diametrically opposite to that of the stud shaft 54. Another locking finger 66' is associated with the stud shaft 54' in the same way as the finger 66 is associated with the stud shaft 54, corresponding parts being indicated by the same reference characters as for the shaft 54 but with a prime appended.

The gears 60 and 60' mesh with the sun gear so that rotation of the sun gear 59 by the manually actuated spindle knob 42 causes both of the fingers 66 and 66' to swing simultaneously toward or from locking position, depending upon the direction of rotation of the spindle knob 42.

The bushings 62 and 62 are held on the shafts 54 and 54, respectively, by snap rings 719 and 7t). There is a pin 74 secured to and extending from the gear and finger 66. There is a corresponding pin 74/ extending from the gear 66 and finger 66'. A coil tension spring '?'6 is stretched between the pins '74 and 74. This spring 76 extends across the longitudinal axis of the axle 12 and the spindle knob 42 in the compartment 34. When the locking fingers 66 and 66' are in their locking positions, as shown in full lines in FIGURE 3, the spring 76 is to the left of the axis of the stud shaft 54 and is to the right of the stud shaft 54', as shown in FIGURE 3. Thus the spring pulls the finger 66 against the left-hand end of the slot 68 and pulls the other finger 66 against the right-hand end of its slot 68'. This holds the locking fingers in locking position. When a reel is to be removed from the spindle, the spindle knob 42 is turned counter-clockwise in FIGURE 3 and this rotates the gears 50, 60 and 60' in directions to swing the locking fingers 66 and 66 into their retracted positions shown in broken lines. This operation does not require the release of any clamping screws or any other operation requiring tools. It is made possible by the fact that the spring 76 stretches as much as necessary to permit the pins 74 and 74' to move further apart as they travel toward a center line 80 which passes through the axes of the stud shafts 54 and 54'. Further angular movement of the locking fingers 66 and 66' toward retracted position moves the pins 74 and 74' beyond the center line 80 and permits the spring 76 to contract so that the tension of this same spring 76 also holds the locking fingers 66 and 66' in their retracted positions. Thus the construction provides means for moving the locking fingers between locked and unlocked positions by a fraction turn of the spindle knob 42 and without any further operation of any kind. This makes removal and replacement of reels convenient and extensive time is saved because of the substantially instantaneous locking and releasing of the reels by the locking fingers 66 and 66.

The preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, but changes and modifications can be made and some features can be used in different combinations without departing from the invention as defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a spindle for holding a reel,

(a) an end cap on the spindle,

(b) locking fingers carried by the spindle and movable between two positions, in one of which the fingers project outwardly and block removal of a reel from the spindle, and in the other of which the fingers are retracted and a reel which fits the spindle can pass over the fingers,

(c) a manually-actuated device on the end cap, and

(d) motion-transmitting connections between the manually-actuated device and the fingers, and through which the manually actuated device moves all of the fingers simultaneously from one position to the other, characterized by the manually-actuated device being centrally located on the end cap,

(e) a center gear connected to the manually-actuated device and comprising part of the motion-transmitting connections,

(f) other gears, including a different gear for each of the locking fingers, and

g) the other gears being angularly spaced around the center gear and meshing with the center gear at different locations around its periphery.

2. The combination described in claim 1 characterized y (a) there being two locking fingers on the spindle, and

(b) the locking fingers and their gears being at diametrically opposite locations around the center gear.

3. A spindle construction comprising (a) a cylindrical part comprising a peripheral portion of the spindle on which a reel is carried,

(b) bearings on the spindle for mounting the spindle on an axle, including a bearing near the front end of the spindle,

(c) the peripheral portion extending axially beyond the bearing near the front end of the spindle,

(d) an end cap on the spindle beyond the peripheral portion on which the reel is carried,

(e) a finger carried by the spindle and movable between a position in which it extends beyond the peripheral portion and a retracted position within the circumferential limits of the peripheral portion,

(12') a manually-actuated device on the end of the cap,

and

(g) a mechanical connection between the manuallyactuated device and the finger for moving the finger between the locking and retracted positions in response to movement of the manually-actuated device, characterized by (h) a plurality of locking fingers at angularly spaced locations around the spindle,

(i) all of the locking fingers being connected with the manually-actuated device by mechanical connections so that they operate simultaneously in response to operation of the manually-actuated device,

(j) the locking fingers being carried by the end cap and being angularly movable on bearings on the end cap,

(k) spring means that move across a center line which extends through the axes of the angular movement to hold the locking fingers in both locking and retracted positions, further characterized by (l) the bearings for the locking fingers being stud shafts extending from' a back face of the end cap,

(in) the manually-actuated device including a center shaft carried by the end cap and in substantial alignment with the bearings for mounting the spindle on an axle,

(n) the axes of the stud shafts being equally spaced from the axis of said center shaft, and

(o) the mechanical connections including a center gear on the center shaft and other gears on the respective stud shafts and connected with the locking fingers.

4. The spindle construction described in claim 3 characterized by (a) a flange at the back of the spindle and extending radially beyond the cylindrical part of the spindle and having a hub in which is one of the bearings for mounting the spindle on an axle,

(b) another flange near the front of the spindle and located entirely within the cylindrical part of the spindle and in which is another bearing for mounting the spindle on an axle,

(c) the cylindrical part of the spindle extending beyond a front face of the other flange,

(d) the end cap being connected to the cylindrical part of the spindle by a plurality of holding screws at angularly spaced locations around the spindle,

(e) the end cap abutting against the front end of the cylindrical part but having a clearance from said other flange so as to form a chamber between the end cap and said other flange,

(f) the locking fingers, stud shafts and gearing being in said chamber but spaced from the front of said other flange so as to leave an open clearance between said other flange and the parts carried by the end cap,

(g) a pin extending from the gear of each locking finger at a location such that with the fingers at the opposite ends of their strokes, the pins move to opposite sides of a line extending through the axes of both stud shafts, and

(h) the spring means being a helical tension spring in said open clearance and stretched between said pins.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,928,620 3/1960 Stavrakis et al 242-683 FRANK J. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

LEONARD D. CHRISTIAN, Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION WITH A SPINDLE FOR HOLDING A REEL, (A) AN END CAP ON THE SPINDLE, (B) LOCKING FINGERS CARRIED BY THE SPINDLE AND MOVABLE BETWEEN TWO POSITIONS, IN ONE OF WHICH THE FINGERS PROJECT OUTWARDLY AND BLOCK REMOVAL OF A REEL FROM THE SPINDLE, AND IN THE OTHER OF WHICH THE FINGERS ARE RETRACTED AND A REEL WHICH FITS THE SPINDLE CAN PASS OVER THE FINGERS, (C) A MANUALLY-ACTUATED DEVICE ON THE END CAP, AND (D) MOTION-TRANSMITTING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE MANUALLY-ACTUATED DEVICE AND THE FINGERS, AND THROUGH WHICH THE MANUALLY ACTUATED DEVICE MOVES ALL OF THE FINGERS SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM ONE POSITION TO THE OTHER, CHARACTERIZED BY THE MANUALLY-ACTUATED DEVICE BEING CENTRALLY LOCATED ON THE END CAP, (E) A CENTER GEAR CONNECTED TO THE MANUALLY-ACTUATED DEVICE AND COMPRISING PART OF THE MOTION-TRANSMITTING CONNECTIONS, (F) OTHER GEARS, INCLUDING A DIFFERENT GEAR FOR EACH OF THE LOCKING FINGERS, AND (G) THE OTHER GEARS BEING ANGULARLY SPACED AROUND THE CENTER GEAR AND MESHING WITH THE CENTER GEAR AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS AROUND ITS PERIPHERY. 